


Dry Ground

by isphira



Series: Recovery [2]
Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Spoilers, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, I love her, Injury Recovery, Jim and Aria are gossip buddies now, Not Beta Read, Post-Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, aria's a social butterfly, fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22401478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isphira/pseuds/isphira
Summary: It's been a couple days since he woke up in the hospital and Jim's going stir crazy. Good thing he gets a visitor!
Series: Recovery [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612261
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Dry Ground

It’s day two since he woke up and hours since he’s been lying/sitting in near silence and Jim is absolutely sure he is going to go mad if he has to stare at the walls for another second. Especially when he feels like his entire body is pins and needles, but calling the nurse is out of the question. She’ll just give him more morphine and as much as it’d help, he knows he’ll end up sleeping again. 

He doesn’t remember much of his dreams, just that vague feeling of _well that was unpleasant_ and _let’s not do that again_ floating in his brain. Enough to convince him to tough it out for a while. So now he’s staring at blankets and insipid paintings of flowers in what must be the most boring hospital room on the planet. 

Bloody. Fantastic.

Jim huffs irritably and tries to ignore the ticking of some ancient clock on the wall. Good god, he’d even take Titus King's broadcast at this point… On second thought, he wouldn’t go _that_ far. He still has a shred of dignity left. 

The small TV mounted to the wall in the corner of the room would be a great distraction if not for the unfortunately broken microphone, the one that listens for vocal commands. And of course, remotes became less common sometime in the early 20’s. This entire floor probably shares one. So he’s out of luck on that front.

The only reprieve was this morning, when he got a call from his kids via one of the hospital vid-call setups. Susie was having one of her good days, and Ethan had a smudge of dirt on his face, as usual. They never could get him to stay clean. They had talked for a long time, and after they had hung up with tears in their eyes a kind of dread settled into the pit of his stomach, that he could have missed this, missed _them_. The need to hold them in his arms made the stinging in them that much stronger.

_Knock, knock, knock._ The bed croaks when Jim jumps at the sound.

“Come in!” he calls, maybe a little too eagerly, but he’s desperate here.

The door slides to the left and he sees Agent Argento walk in with a gift bag and a card in her hands. A kind smile is ready for him when he focuses on her. 

“Hey, Director.” Argento walks towards the bed and gives him a little salute with the card. “I come bearing gifts, compliments of the office.” 

There’s a small rustle as the bag lands on the small bedside table next to him, and she hands him the card, which is loosely sealed in a dark blue envelope. Jim takes it with a small thank you and opens it to see a cartoon-ish cookie with a crack in its head, covered by a band aid. 

“You’re one tough cookie.” He reads aloud, shaking his head at the absurdity of it. “Really?”

“Yup! Smiley grabbed it and had everyone sign.”

Sure enough, opening the card revealed the names of what must be every one of the agents, analysts and techs under his command. Nearly one hundred people. All with messages conveying they are thinking of him, hoping for a speedy recovery, and more. He spots MacReady’s too large writing easily, crowding out other notes _._

Jim shakes his head and closes it just enough to make it stand on the table next to him, warmth in his chest pushing back the pins and needles a little more. He’s got good people. The bag is next, and he reaches his tingling hand inside.

“This one’s a little something from me.” Argento says cheerfully. “Thought you’d enjoy something other than hospital food.”

A variety of snacks from home appear; Cheezels, TimTams, and even a small jar of Vegemite, which makes him laugh. 

“Finally something with some flavor. Thank you.” Replacing all the snacks except for the Cheezels, he opens the bag and offers one to his companion before digging in himself. God he’d missed these things. A wave of his hand invites her to sit down next to him, and she does. Not necessarily at attention, but she’s alert and seems to have gotten rest at least since the shit-show that was Apex. Of all missions to get back in the field on...

They chat over the snack for a bit, Argento catching him up on the goings-on of the office. He’s relieved to hear Mac has everything under control back in Prague, and there isn’t a huge earth-shattering threat that needs to be handled while he’s stuck wallowing here. Before long he has an obscene amount of cheese dust on his fingers, and their conversation wanes a bit. He grabs a tissue to clean up when the bag is empty.

“Enough about us, sir, how are you coping?” There’s enough concern in her voice to pique Jim’s frustration a bit. He tosses the now crumpled tissue and empty bag at the waste bin, but they don’t come close to making it in. 

He sighs with exaggerated feeling and says, “As well as can be expected for someone exposed to a mystery poison and its antidote, I reckon. It’s all tests and monitoring and scans and more tests. Really bloody tired of it all, but the docs say I should be out of here within the week.” More like a lifetime, the way this whole experience has been going so far.

“Huh! That’s not too bad.”

“You’d think so, but there’s nothing to do around here but be poked and prodded. No books, my phone is MIA, and even the blasted TV is broken!” He thinks with some guilt that he probably sounds like Ethan when he complains about commercials during his favorite show, and hastily waves his hand in the air to move away from the topic, but Argento has caught on, and a slow devious smile is appearing on her face. Jim’s not sure if he’s terrified or impressed.

“Really? I think I know how to fix it. Hey! Adam, get in here!”

_What the hell?_

There’s maybe 5 seconds of silence before the door slides open again and there’s Jensen standing tall and foreboding in the doorway, his arms crossed and eyebrow cocked at Argento. It’s the first time Jim’s seen him since Apex, and the man looks as unflappable as ever with those shades in place. 

“You rang?” The low rumble of his voice was a bit exaggerated and Jim was reminded of an old movie character Susie used to love.

“Yeah, Lurch, use those fancy augs of yours to fix the poor Director’s TV. He’s dying of boredom here… um, I mean...” There’s an awkward pause after she says that, but it’s broken by Jim’s snort of laughter and Jensen shakes his head before making his way to the screen. 

As he walks by he rumbles, “smooth”. She smacks him on the arm as he passes and smacks herself on the forehead at the gaffe. Shoots an apologetic look Jim's way.

“Sorry, sir, that was insensitive.” 

“It’s fine, not like I’m going to croak anytime soon.” He’s more intent on the way Jensen kind of… blurs around Argento’s flying hand. An aug? Argento misses the hit and she blinks in confusion for a moment.

They both watch Jensen as he stops in front of the TV and lifts his hand. At the angle they are at, it’s hard to see, but he pauses and tilts his head a bit. Then a sudden little flick of the wrist and Eliza Cassan is gracing their ears. 

“Would you mind turning on subtitles for now?” Jim asks, and he gets a little nod before its done and the room is quieter.

“Good to know you have a career as a remote to fall back on, Adam,” says Argento and Jim had no idea these two were familiar enough to _quip._ Jensen turns back around to face them again, his hands stuffed in the pockets of that dramatic coat of his. Stiff and reserved, as always.

“Suppose I’ll get paid in batteries?”

“And cereal.” 

“Deal,” is the somber response, which makes the conversation seem even more ridiculous, and the response makes her laugh. “I’ll be outside. Good to see you, sir.” and then he’s gone again, near silent save for the sound of his boots on the vinyl floor. It might be his imagination, but... was there a little stutter in that turn?

As soon as the door is closed behind him, Argento turns back to Jim and whispers.

“Has he been in to see you yet?” At the shake of his head, she purses her lips and says, “Don’t tell him I told you, but I think he might be staying here in the hospital for most of the day. And maybe night.” He frowns at her and she lifts her shoulders in a helpless shrug. 

“MacReady and he decided he should stay behind and deal with some leftover fallout and help Smiley and me with the investigation. I don’t have any proof, I haven’t stalked him or anything, but I thought you might want to know. I… I’m a little worried about him.”

Jim can see that. She has little furrows between her eyebrows and she keeps looking at the door, as if she wants to follow him. He might be too, if he's honest with himself. Why hadn't Jensen told him he was here?

“...I’ll talk to him. Thanks for the heads up.” Her worried look clears a little and she gives him a smile as she stands up and stretches.

“I'll leave it to you, sir! Well, I better head back to my hotel. Hope we can get you out of here soon.”

“You and me both.” Another slide of the door and Jim is alone with his thoughts once again. But at least he has the TV. And a little investigating to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Hmm, what in the world is Adam up to? I guess we'll have to find out!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!
> 
> P.S. I don't know if you know this, but titles are hard!


End file.
